Monday, December 20, 2010

Brand maintenance is the act of keeping your brand in an existing state of relevance, efficiency and validity in the mind of your target audience.

It is the continuous preservation of your brand/business against threats, declinations, competitive oppositions and disappointments through constant registration/affirmation of your brand’s delivery capabilities on the mind of the general public, thereby creating consistent consumers’ attraction/attention towards the demand of your brand among other brands.

Brand maintenance compliments brand building and both constitute the management of a brand like we’ve discussed before.

There is no how we will talk about brand maintenance without talking about advertising and there is no how we talk advertising without talking about creativity.

Creativity is an attraction and contingency in the world of advertising and advertising is a world of imagination.

‘ImagiNATION’ is said to be the greatest Nation on planet earth. You can’t create an advert without imagination; both of them are interdependent because advertising helps your brand to broaden your brand’s “communication” and your communication helps you research on how to handle advertising.

Your imaginative power is your creative ability which assertively assures the effectiveness and productiveness of the advertising of your brand.

Albert Einstein, a German born US physicist said “imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited, where as imagination embraces the entire world, thereby stimulating progress and birthing evolution”

The attraction of the general public through advertising is the reflection of your brand image, under the process of brand building, which stimulates outstanding progress among contemporary/competitive brands.

Now, thepower of advertisingin brand maintenance is very well illustrated in the quote of Slevas H. Britt, he said “doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark, you know what you are doing but nobody else does”.

So, you have to engage in strategic advertising, where the general public SEE and HEAR your “good works”, and then your brand stands the chance of always being recommended and attracts more patronage from your target audience.

Since the marketability of your brand is of great importance, there is need to put into demonstration the factors that will ensure the prominence/accentuation of your brand, making it of great demand by your target audience. These factors can practically be enhanced through advertising and are therefore a reflection or product of what advertising will do to any brand:

(1)Advertising exposes your brand.

(2)Advertising celebrates your brand.

(3)Advertising emphasizes on what makes your brand unique and different from other brands.

Celebrity endorsement is another way/strategy of maintaining your brand in the mind of your target audience.

Brand custodians all over the world agitate this aspect of brand maintenance. Celebrity endorsement is really commendable as the trend is advantageous and profitable to your brand, especially if the celebrity is renowned for positive lifestyle or achievements.

Different celebrities all over the world, ranging from musicians, sports men, actors & actresses, TV presenters, politicians, clergies, comedians to professors etc. have been brand ambassadors in different category of brand endorsements at different times.

Michael Jackson, the late American world pop king endorsed the Pepsi brand long time ago before he was scandalized in child molestation.

Other celebrities like Shaquil O’Neal, an American basket ball player and other celebrities like football superstars like Raul, Roberto Carlos, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Louis Figo, Didier Drogba, Mikel Obi, Zinedine Zidane etc have all endorsed for Pepsi as a world brand.

Genevieve Nnaji, a Nollywood star actress endorsed of recent for Lux soap as a brand ambassador and other celebrities like Robin Townsend and more have in time past endorsed the same brand.

Pastor Paul Adefarasin, a Nigerian dynamic speaker and versatile clergy of House on the RockChurch, endorsed for one of the best entertainment TV station in Africa, STV.

Mohammed Ali, world greatest boxing legend, endorsed for an international brand, Amstel Malta.

Oprah Winfrey, an accomplished TV presenter/celebrity endorsed for a few brands and she's a brand ambassador for herself.

However, celebrity endorsement is more expedient with sports and better if the celebrity is involved in community development or charity works.

Let us look at a sport icon, David Beccham, who has been involved in various brands’ endorsements like Pepsi, Nike and a few other brands including fashion. He is involved in a charity work, where he contributes his own quota to humanity.

Also, Kanu Nwankwo, a world known footballer with substantial achievements, he runs a charity organization known as Kanu Heart Foundation; he has endorsed for Peak milk and a few other brands’ endorsements.

Celebrity endorsements in branding reallygoes a long way to maintain your brand and it has been in operation in developed countries but its quite new in developing countries.

Now, be CAUTIONED as a brand custodian, in the agitation of celebrity endorsements ‘cause some celebrities are considered a “hard sell” in brand maintenance, so be discrete and prudently selective in search of icons or celebrities for your brand in various parts of the world because they (“hard sell”) affect your brand negatively due to their lifestyle, poor antecedence or stigma, which is the societal disapproval of ignonimity.

What I’m saying in essence is any celebrity that has at a point in time been involved in a societal scandal like hard drugs, molestation of any sort, murder, adultery or promiscuity, corruption and such of these which some celebrities (I don’t want to mention names) across the world had fallen guilty at different times, should not be allowed to endorse your brand as doing this will give a negative impression about your organization’s integrity to your target audience. This will automatically affect your brand negatively.

You should target celebrities considered as “easy sell” asthey are veryhealthy and profitable to/for your brand because these celebritieshave large number of fans and people who they mentor; so when they are used as brandambassadors/endorser of your brand, they attract more of their fansand those who look up to them to your brand. You can be sure of getting response like these from the public:“I love to drink Pepsi ‘cause that’s what Beccham drinks”;“I like to use DARK & LOVELY Hair Relaxer ‘cause of the endorsement of Kelly Rowland”; “I like to buy a Nike trainers ‘cause that’s what Michael Jordan’s putting on to walk in the air”; “I must wear Nike swoosh face cap ‘cause its always cool on Tiger Woods”.

These are the kinds of statements you get from the general public because they are great/committed fans of your endorsing celebrities; even “if” those celebrities don’t actually use or patronize the brand they are endorsing.

Meet AFOLABI DOLLARS

AFOLABI DOLLARS is a multitalented young man with multiplicity of ideas; conceptually innovative.
A PROFESSIONAL PUBLIC SPEAKER. He is the CEO of PRAGMATOS EMPIRES COMPANY, into Oil and Gas, business brand development and general consultancies.
He has facilitated seminars and workshops at government, churches and corporate levels; a few of these facilitations are the seminars on SKILL AQCUISITION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT SEMINARS with PRACTICAL elucidation on 500 Small and Medium scale Enterprises) to churches at different denominations since 2006 till date.
Also BRAND MANAGEMENT & TECHNIQUES ETC.
He was given an International Youth Leadership Stakeholders Forum Award in 2007 for active participation in the building of youth volunteering skills.
He is also a pastor, author & a member of various impactful groups